Devon County Council has said they still have ‘no imminent plans’ to resubmit a planning application to build a new park-and-ride scheme on the edge of Exeter, nearly two years after they said they would continue to work on proposals when they withdrew a proposed scheme.

In 2016, residents of Ide voted 4-1 against the £6million park-and-ride scheme in a historic referendum after Devon County Council had proposed creating 566 parking spaces on the site to reduce the traffic levels along one of the main arterial routes into the city – Alphington Road.

The previous Ide Park-and-Ride plan

Villagers’ concerns included environmental reasons, potential urbanisation of the area, and that the money would be better spent on improving bus and cycle services.

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Devon County Council then withdrew the plans in June 2016, but at the time the council said it would continue to work on the proposals which it saw as an “essential” part of Exeter’s growth plans.

However, a Devon County Council spokesman has today told DevonLive.com: “We have no imminent plans to submit an application.”

Ide

In 2017, the spokesman also said: “We will be reviewing this and the broader park-and-ride requirements for the city over the next 12 to 18 months, as part of the emerging Greater Exeter Strategic Plan work.”

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The referendum over the scheme cost the parish council £1,000 in taxpayers’ money to hold the vote. It saw 172 villagers vote against the proposal with 41 voting in favour. The turnout was 49 per cent.